..what else can I say...
Nirvana & Kurt Cobain
And for a multitude of reasons Here are a few.
The lyrics were poetry rather then "lets write mush about love" or "throw a good beat in, and it'll sell". They never really had that sound. The songs had deeper, and usually darker, meanings, child abuse, drug addiction and suicide ran through the music. Several were written about actual events, such as the abduction and rape of a young girl (Polly), and a child kept in the closet near Cobain's home in Seattle (Paper Cuts).
For those of us *cough* old enough to remember the first time you heard "Lithium" or "Teen Spirit" when it was new, or if you have just now discovered Nirvana ( And if you haven't... Get thee to a music store! Now! Turn off the computer and go!) you know that feeling you got? Sort of , yes this is right. That is the second of my reasons. They were right. Grunge music gets glossed over a lot, it is rock and punk's unwanted bastard love child (who had the blues and folk for godparents). It was a surprise coming out of no where. Seattle, of all places to start a musical revolution! The record companies didn't want it and when it was shoved down their throats, the bands often refused to play ball. (Think Cobain in a dress on MTV, and Pearl Jam's fight with Ticket Bastard.) Not all of them refused to sell out, but enough of them didn't so as to keep the movement untainted. And they were big. Even if you didn't like them, you knew who they were. Or if you were like me, living in the boonies with nothing but country music stations, one ultra-pop station and a classic rock station that only could be picked up in the dead of winter (and even then it was fuzzy!), you first heard them on a homemade tape at a friend's house; you still knew them. ( And became transfixed by them.)
. Of course Grunge would not have been what it was without Kurt Cobain. Other bands helped
make it happen, and it would have not been a "movement" with just Nirvana. Soundgarden, STP, Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam (the last standard bearer), to name a few; were mainstays. But Nirvana and Kurt Cobain hit the scene first. The guy was, well, a contradiction. He couldn't sing in the traditional sense, his voice was rough. But there was this quality to his voice. It was as if he really felt what he was singing about. It wasn't something he did because he wanted to. He had to. That came through in the music. It wasn't the technical aspect of the music either. Cobain has been credited with saying that " I play all the wrong notes ...... just turn the distortion levels up". The lyrics he wrote were so personal, yet so universal. In an earlier century he would have been burned as in league with the Devil. Books could be written to define some of the songs ( IE Heart shaped Box, On a Plain, Come as You are, ... ) But it was good. It was necessary in order to advance, to understand something that would not be known other wise. Hearing it was like having
some dark bit of you ripped into the sunlight. That was his voice, his lyrics, and music. He was an icon who didn't want to be one. He was the dream of every musician; he was his own nightmare. And still his music went on. It got better. (The first time I ever heard "All Apologies" I cried all over my math homework to the extent I had to rewrite it. And I don't consider my self emotional.) It seemed the pain he was felt was conducent to the quality of his work. Sad and scary but often true in the world of art. The greatest artists are often these totally screwed up individuals. (Think Van Gogh cutting off his own ear.) And Cobain was an artist, not just some guy with a guitar and a green fuzzy sweater.
Cobain lived his music, and he died his music. His death note is poetry of the blackest kind. The use of the gun ironic; "Man, I swear I don't have a gun" as the song goes. Many pictures had been taken of him holding a gun to his head, he had been thinking about it for a while, even if just subconsciously. Then there is "Unplugged". You watch this,
something is building up, something is happening but you don't know what. There is this feeling, this atmosphere. The stage is draped in dark cloth, the lighting odd. There are these flowers everywhere. Those flowers, lilies I think, symbolize death. The band is seated amongst these flowers. They are for the band. Many of the songs played are covers. Few of their own songs played are "hits".
The man was brilliant. I would happily sell my soul to have been able to see them in concert. But when you think about it, is it not better he died when he did? True, no more Nirvana, and his family was fucked up for a while, but he never sold out. Artistically, he was stayed true to himself. Had he chosen to live, he would still be great. But it would be " Oh yeah, Nirvana? They are OK. Like their older stuff better." ( Like most of us are with a certain Metall Ica) Instead you have these two bipolar opinions, "They kick ass." And "They were over rated, Foo Fighters are better then they ever were." That last one pisses me off just to write! >:#
Well now you know what I think. Just one more nut to add her two cents.
If you happen to be interested, a analysis of "Pennyroyal Tea" by yours truly. Hey, it was an easy A!!
An interesting analysis of that infamous note by someone who is not me. Here are the actual words of the note.
I wish I was like you... Easily amused